GPS phone tracking case

U.S. Supreme Court may allow the government to track phones without a warrant

The upcoming Supreme Court decision on Antoine Jones’ GPS case could have a drastic and disturbing impact on the privacy of every American citizen.

If the Supreme Court finds that law enforcement were within the law when placing a GPS tracking device on the car of suspected drug smuggler and nightclub owner Antoine Jones, it would open the door for even more egregious violations of our privacy.

This decision would essentially allow the government to monitor anyone and everyone’s movements without a warrant for any reason or no reason at all.

While the PATRIOT Act is already an affront to the Constitution and everything that America was built upon, this would dangerously expand the power of the government to act without even having to seek out a warrant.

The most unsettling aspect of this prospect is that so many people seem ready to accept the fact that the government will be able to openly track them around the clock wherever they go.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police violated the Constitution when they attached a Global Positioning System tracker to a suspect's vehicle without a valid search warrant, voting unanimously in one of the first major cases to test privacy rights in the digital era.

The decision offered a glimpse of how the court may address the flood of privacy cases expected in coming years over issues such as cellphones, email and online documents. But the justices split 5-4 over the reasoning, suggesting that differences remain over how to apply age-old principles prohibiting "unreasonable searches."